Theme The Search for Meaning

What is a Theme? Theme: the central message of a literary work. It’s the idea that the author wishes to convey about life or the human nature. THE MEssage

A literary theme is not a one word subject or topic. Can a meaning of a story be love? Hate? Greed? - NO! Those are topics, not themes.

Theme is the meaning of a literary work made into an assertion (statement) about life or human nature.

For example, if love is a topic/subject of two novels, a major theme of one of the novels could be –“Love, if taken to extremes, can be negative rather than positive,” while in the other novel, the theme might be –“Love can conquer even the greatest evil.” Notice that the topic/subject is the same, but the messages about that topic/subject are different in different works.

Big World of the Theme. Applies to the “Real” World. Theme is usually implied and must be inferred by the reader. Theme is usually not directly stated. Themes are bigger than the story. Small World of the Story

Themes are revealed by: The way characters behave or change in a story Conflicts in the story Statements made by the narrator or the characters To understand theme, you must understand plot, characters, and setting.

Theme is NOT A moral or command  It doesn’t tell us how to behave by using words like “should” A common saying or cliché  Actions speak louder than words; absence makes the heart grow fonder, etc.

Theme is NOT Specific to the text  Doesn’t refer to specific characters or plot Absolute  It doesn’t use words like: all, none, everything, or always, because that kind of statement is rarely true and usually impossible to prove.

Theme is An observation  A comment about the way human experience is in reality. Original and thoughtful  It should be something a bit philosophical.

Theme is General, about reality  It translates the characters and plot into generalizations such as “people” or “parents” or “raising a child,” etc. Reasonable  It uses terms like “sometimes” or “often” to suggest a more realistic view of the variety in life.

What is Theme? What a text implies about life or human nature. A text can have more than one theme. Everything in the text should work together to help communicate that idea. Nothing in the work should logically contradict the theme.

Thematic statement = Topic/Subject + Assertion (statement) that reflects the author’s observation about human nature about the topic + Qualifying clause: when, because, while, unless, even, so that, whether

Example thematic statement for The Hunger Games: A person’s strength can evolve (thematic idea)(statement about the thematic idea) when needed as a means of survival (Qualifying clause: when, because, unless, even, so that, whether, if, etc.)